ROYERFORD ­­­­— The Spring-Ford Rams put together a perfect weekend, winning all seven of their games, with three shutouts.

Spring-Ford Rams 19, Boyertown Bears 0: The Spring-Ford second-grade Blue team blanked the Boyertown Bears Gold. The Rams’ offensive line paved the way as Kolten Kqira and Ben Herschaft gained significant yardage in the win over the Bears. Luke Pajovich, Danny Thomas and George Neatherly led the Ram defense with a combined 12 tackles to hold the Bears scoreless. Jaden Minter and Cole Niles each had a pair of picks.

Spring-Ford Rams 18, Boyertown Bears 6: The Spring-Ford second-grade Gold team won a hard-fought battle against Boyertown Black. The Rams defense, led by Colin Sweeney, Charlie Kobs and Patrick Gilinger, held Boyertown to only one touchdown. Dominic Ortlip and Jack Gallagher each ran for a touchdown, while Gavin Vigilante connected on a touchdown pass to Vinny Ortlip thanks to the Rams’ great offensive line lead by JJ Bonanni and AJ Folino.

Spring-Ford Rams 12, Boyertown Bears 6: The Spring-Ford fourth-grade Gold notched a big win against Boyertown Black. The Rams took the opening kickoff and stretched it into a grinding, nine-minute drive which resulted in a rushing touchdown by Andrew Yoon. Jake Santangelo added the second touchdown on the ground for the Rams, who had another great performance from the entire offense led by the strong blocking of Sam Palicka. The Rams defense carried the day with standout performances by Tyler Irby, Tyler Mullin, John Zawislak and James Palucki.

Spring-Ford Rams 32, Boyertown Bears 13: The Spring-Ford sixth-grade Blue routed Boyertown Bears Gold. James Mullen threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Nick DelRomano and a 30-yard strike to Tyler Horgan. Gavin McGill rushed for two touchdowns, including an electrifying 81-yard cut-back run. Peyton Gensler also rumbled for a touchdown. The Rams tallied over 300 yards on offense that started with the tireless line-play of Evan McNabb, Connor Lappin, Kyle George, Matt Valerio, and Brian Peck. The Rams moved to 3-0-1.

Spring-Ford Rams 18, Boyertown Bears 0: The Spring-Ford sixth-grade Gold won the 2012 Piggy Bowl in a hard fought battle. Defense and penalties were the name of the game. Jason Smiley scored twice, once on a screen pass from Adrian Sibilly in the second quarter and again on a 12-yard run around right end on the first play in the fourth quarter. James Begg scored to end the scoring in the fourth quarter. The story of the day was the Rams defense. Four turnovers, three fumbles and an interception were a key to the victory. Dean Costalas had a fumble recovery, forced a fumble, and was in the Bears’ backfield all day. Nate Hammerle also forced a fumble, recovered by Jake Romeu. The linebackers were dominant — Chase Smith, Hunter Curley, Romeu, Sean LaPree and Hammerle were making plays sideline to sideline.

NorChester Red Knights

Norchester Red Knight 40, Lenapy Valley 33: The Red Knights Flag Team 1 rolled to a victory over previously unbeaten Lenape Valley. Dylan Weaver, Colin King, Caleb Little, Chase Parisan and Matthew Karounos battled the Lenape front four all day, paving the way for two rushing touchdowns by Derek Hinrichs along with four scores by Derek Larson, who also connected on a two-point conversion in the first half. Alejandro Estrada and Anthony Salio put forth solid efforts defensively, while Christian Carroll made a crucial fourth down stop with 45 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Pottstown 39, Norchester Red Knights 26: The Red Knights Flag Team 2 lost in a shootout versus Pottstown. Alex Brandt led the Red Knights with three touchdowns and an extra point. Dysen Neil had a touchdown and Jackson Waters tacked on the extra point. Lucas Zachesky, Jayson Beideman, Evan Belcher, Logan Frownfelter, Jacob Hirschman and Colton Waters made extraordinary blocks all over the field opening holes for their quarterback and running backs.

Jackson Waters led the defensive effort with six tackles, while Dysen Neil had four tackles. Jacob Hirschman was in the backfield on nearly every play and made three tackles for losses. Evan Belcher had two tackles and Alex Brandt had one. Jayson Beideman, Logan Frownfelter, Colton Waters and Lucas Zachesky all played key roles on the defense, either getting into the backfield or holding down the ends.

Pottstown 25, Norchester Red Knighs 12: The 105-pound Red Knights lost to Pottstown, moving to 4-3 overall. The Red Knights scored the tying touchdown with only a couple of minutes left in the game only to have it called back with a block-in-the-back penalty. Pottstown picked off a desperation pass at the end of the game and took it back for a touchdown. The Red Knights performance was highlighted by touchdowns from Scotty Honicker on a pass from Dan Mancini, and a running touchdown by Ethan Wiley. Strong defensive efforts were turned in by Ricky McCutchen and Jake Brownley.

In other Norchester football action last weekend, the 80-pound Red Knights lost to Abington, 28-6; the 120-pound Red Knights lost to Penndel, 20-12, and the 145-pound Red Knights lost to Bristol, 20-8.

The Norchester Red Knights Cheerleading Squads participated at the 2012 Bux-Mont Pop Warner Cheerleading Competition and Fun Day at Quakertown High School last weekend. The Flag and Mitey Mite Squads, ages ranging from 5-9, participated in exhibition routines showing their pride and spirit with cheers, dance routines and smiling faces. The Jr. Midget Squad, ages 10-13, took second in a very tough category with a near flawless routine and will be advancing to the next level of Pop Warner Cheerleading Competition South Qualifiers Saturday, Oct. 27, at Temple University. It was the first win for Norchester Cheerleading since entering into the National Pop Warner Organization last year and a great accomplishment for the cheerleaders, coaches and Norchester Red Knights Football and Cheerleading Association.

Pottsgrove Falcons

Pottsgrove Falcons 41, Coventry 0: The Pottsgrove Falcons Midget varsity team was running on all cylinders in shutting out Coventry. Rasul Faison got things started with a nice 40-yard cut-back run for a touchdown, then went back-to-back with a second touchdown, this time a 55-yard run. Blake Strain added the extra point, then recovered a fumbled kickoff and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to get the special teams on the board and again added the extra point. After Faison forced a fumble at the 50-yard line, Falcons quarterback Jaden Blakey rumbled 50 yards for the score, Parris Janusek added the extra point. Faison ended the Wildcats’ best drive of the day with an interception at the 5-yard line and a few plays later tacked on an impressive 60-yard touchdown run. Blakey completed a pass to Alex Salata for the extra point. Pottsgove’s defense kept the pressure on Coventry’s offense throughout the game. Safety Jay Sisko recovered a fumble forced by Strain and Janusek forced a fumble recovered by Skylar Mcleod. Pottsgrove’s offense closed out the scoring with a great pass from Blakey to Larry Wingo for an 80-yard touchdown. The offensive line of Tommy Doyle, Justin Adams, Sylar Mcleod, Joe Kling and James Crocker blocked hard all day to clear the way for the offense. Pottsgrove is 5-0.

Coventry Wildcats

The Coventry Wildcats’ Hayden Knighton has been selected to participate in National All-Star Bowl. While attending an Offense-Defense Football Camp this summer in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Knighton, 11, of Pottstown, was named an Offense-Defense All-American and invited to participate in the seventh annual Offense-Defense Bowl Week festivities, Dec. 26-31, at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

Knighton, a center and middle linebacker for the Coventry Wildcats sixth-seventh-grade team, was chosen for this honor from a group of young athletes numbering in the thousands across the country and played well representing Pottstown.

The Offense-Defense Youth All-American Bowl is part of a week-long series of events including the televised seventh annual Offense-Defense All-American Bowl, an All-Star football game showcasing 88 of the top high school seniors in the country and has featured current NFL pros such as Cam Newton, Carlos Dunlap, and Dez Bryant among others before they were collegiate stars.

BOYS ICE HOCKEY

The Owen J. Roberts Middle School ice hockey team opened the 2012-13 Ice Line Quad Rinks hockey season with a 10-4 romp over Downingtown West. Newcomer Kevin Hatten led the way for OJR with a hat trick, which included the game winning goal in the second period. Austin Mourar also netted two goals and had one assist, while Gordie Delano added one goal and two assists in his OJR hockey debut. The Wildcats additionally picked up one goal each from returnees Charlie Kranich, Ed Keegan (first goal of the game), Royce Grunninger and rookie Sammy Diehl. The OJR offense was also fueled by Kevin Moser’s two assists, while rookies Ben Bochanski and Tyler Crouthamel each tallied one assist.

Starting goaltender Darius Lobello stopped 25 of the 29 shots fired at him in getting his first victory of this young season. The Wildcat offense unleashed 27 shots toward the Downingtown West goalie in the victory.

GIRLS SOCCER

The Vincent United U12 Magic team, coached by Mark and Courtney Stevenson, won the 2012 George Pratt Memorial Tournament in Cape May over Columbus Day weekend. The team went 2-0-1 in its group with a 1-1 tie over Cherry Hill FC, a 3-1 win over Towsontowne FC (Md.), and a 2-0 win over Cape Express SC (N.J.). In the championship game, the Magic defeated the previously unbeaten Cohansey Cometz (N.J.). It was the Magic’s first outing under the 11 vs. 11 format.

Providence Hurricanes

The FC Providence Hurricanes of Limerick took first place in the U11 Black bracket at the CPYSC Soccer Blast two-day tournament in Palmyra last weekend. The Hurricanes outscored their opponents 15-3, with wins over Lionville United (5-0), Warrington Wild (6-2) and Coventry Flame (3-0), along with a 1-1 draw against PA Rush, thanks largely to great goalkeeping by Katie DeRosa, Kristen O’Donnell, Delaney Cordrey and Nikki Foller-Moll. The Blast, one of the largest soccer tournaments in Central Pa., was hosted by the Campbell Palmyra Youth Soccer Club located outside of Hershey. Celebrating its 29th year, the Campbell Palmyra club hosted over 125 teams this year from five states.

The Hurricanes are coached by Allan Stevens, Rich Newman and Karly Stevens.

BASEBALL

The PA Pioneers, a local U12 boys travel baseball team, recently won second place in the “Thunder On The Mountain,” a two-day tournament hosted by the Spring-Ford Youth Athletic Tournament last weekend in Spring City.

On Saturday, the Pioneers defeated the Skippack Stars, 6-5, and the West Chester Wildcats, 11-2. On Sunday, the Pioneers defeated the Stonersville Flames, 3-0, and the Spring City Vipers, 7-5, in the semifinal game. The Pioneers then lost to the West Chester Warriors, 9-4, in the championship game.

The PA Pioneer team has played in various tournaments this year, including Rehobeth, Del.; Hershey; Cal Ripken’s Tournament in Maryland; at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World, and numerous other local tournaments.

MARTIAL ARTS

Judo Club Kano, working out of Legacy Karate Academy in Royersford, held Judo promotion last weekend.

About the Author

Rosemarie Ross is a veteran sports reporter for The Mercury. A native of Germany, she began her career with the former United Press International pioneering the role of women in sports reporting. She was worked in Trenton, Phladelphia and Patterson, N.J. and has covered pro sports and boxing. She is a member of the National Hall of Fame for her boxing coverage. She covers high school sports -- and loves it. Reach the author at rross@pottsmerc.com
or follow Rosemarie on Twitter: @RoseRoss31.